The Legend of Future Gohan
by RoxaShadow
Summary: This is the story of Gohan, the future Gohan, had he not fallen to the androids.
1. the arrival of the androids

Gohan sat up with a start, sweat dripping from his forehead _something's wrong _he thought _something's very wrong. _He hoped out of his bed and quickly turned on his light, he moved to his window and focused on the night sky, trying to mental message Piccolo, after several seconds he thought _that's strange, why can't I contact him? _Just before he felt a large explosions go off from west city. He heard his mom scream from the living room and swiftly darted out of his room.

"Mom! Are you ok!?" He shouted as he ran down the small hallway. He rushed into the dark living room and saw Chichi covering her mouth and staring teary eyed at the flashing television.

"Mom what's wrong?" Gohan said as he sat down next to her. She didn't answer, she just wrapped her arms around her son and cried. Gohan pushed her off and said "Mom? What's…. what's going on?" he was truly terrified; she pointed a weak finger towards the TV which Gohan followed. He stared at the flashing images for a few seconds before he realized that it was a live news broadcast.

The reporter was stammering out words, visibly trembling "There seems, t-to be a-a-a-a… battle going on n-now…. Much of west c-city has been d-destroyed…. I'm a-a….afraid to move any closer t-to the d-destruction." Gohan looked at what was playing on behind the man, no longer listening, several of the buildings had been leveled, most were only ruble, fires were the only visible source of light; Gohan's eyes widened as he noticed all the bodies scattered behind the reporter. The reporter turned as a large explosion went off to his left. Gohan watched as a panicked expression washed over his face "Oh god, oh g-god, the battles coming over here!" The camera turned away from the reporter and Gohan gasped as he saw Piccolo flying past the camera into a building. The camera followed him and Gohan watched as his master slowly got up from the ruble, missing an arm. Piccolo shouted and a fresh arm shot out from the stump. Gohan heard the reporters voice screaming "OH GOD!" the camera swerved and Gohan watched as a large ball of light rushed toward them. The scene ended and the TV flickered static.

Gohan sat on the couch dazed "What…? What just…" he turned to his mom "Mom? What's… do you know what's going on?"

She shook her head and quickly pulled her son into a tight embrace "No son, I don't" he hugged her back for a few moments before pushing her back and standing up.

"They… I think they need me."

"NO!" Chichi nearly screamed, grabbing Gohan's small hand.

"Mom…" he pulled his hand out of hers, barely able to escape her vice grip "You saw Mr. Piccolo, they… they need me."

Chichi's eyes were watery "but you're barely seven! Their grown men! You… you wouldn't make a difference, stay here!" with her last words she made a quick grab for her son, which Gohan narrowly avoided.

Gohan stepped away and said "Mom, Mr. Piccolo needs my help. I can't let him down." He turned and ran back down the hall way to his room. He could hear his mom screaming his name as he pulled out the rectangular box from under his bed. He lifted the lid and pulled out the saiyan armor he had kept from Vegeta. He changed quickly and tossed the box back under his bed.

He looked up and saw his mother standing in the doorway, her arms crossed "You are not going. It's way too dangerous." She waved her arms franticly "You could be killed! Do you realize that!?" she began to cry again "I… I can't lose you too… I can't lose you Gohan… please Gohan…" she was pleading to him.

Gohan stared at her for a few moments, tears at his eyes before saying "I love you mom." And with that he turned and bolted out of his window.

Tears streamed down his face as he heard his mom's screams becoming smaller and smaller. He squinted as West city started to come into view. There was smoking rising from the city in various locations, he could make out several buildings completely vaporized. He came to a stop and hovered over the large city. He could barely make out Piccolo's energy, he searched for Krillen's, Yamcha's and Tien's energy but for some reason couldn't find them ; his eyes widened as he felt Vegeta's energy, it had grown enormously since when they had last met at Goku's arrival, and Frieza's second death. In fact, Gohan had only ever felt this power from his father when he had fought Freiza, when he had become a super saiyan. What scared Gohan was that Vegeta's energy was dropping, steadily.

_What could possibly be stronger than a super saiyan!? _Gohan began to think, _what can I do against something like that!? _ Gohan looked down at his body and realized he was shivering from the fright, he tried to stop the feeling, but failed. A Sudden explosion caught his attention down below. The thought crossed his mind, _you don't have to do this, you don't have to fight, your only seven, no one would blame you if you ran away. _Gohan contemplated the idea before shaking his head and dismissing it. "No." his said aloud "I will fight,I will fight as hard as I can!" He powered up to his max as he spoke "…For my father…" and with his last word he shot full speed at where he had seen the explosion.

Down below he saw Piccolo's mangled body lying unconscious on the ground. He nearly shouted out his name before he saw Vegeta crash next to the bloody namekian. Vegeta stood up slowly, panting; Gohan took note of his super saiyan aura, but it was flickering. A young blonde woman landed next to him, Vegeta put up a defensive stance but looked distraught. Gohan watched in horror as the blonde shot a quick punch to Vegeta's gut, causing him to bend over the arm in pain, the girl quickly grabbed his head with both hands and smashed her knee into his nose. Blood spurted from his now broken nose as he took a step back, holding his face. He shot a large blast at the girl who easily deflected it before rushing towards him and throwing a fierce punch to his cheek and following up with a roundhouse to his arm, causing it to snap from the pressure. Gohan heard Vegeta's piercing scream before it was silenced by the girl's fist in his face, causing him to fall back.

The blonde stood over Vegeta as he slowly lost his super saiyan status. His left eye was swollen shut and there was blood streaming from his side. He pushed himself into a sitting position with his undamaged arm and glared at the girl as she walked calmly towards him. Gohan realized what was about to happen. He quickly raised his hands above his head and whispered "Masenko…"

* * *

"Well, this was fun." She said with a smile, standing over Vegeta menacingly.

Vegeta felt a sudden build in energy to his right and turned his head slightly, he caught sight of Gohan about to fire and grinned, he turned his attention back to the android and spat "Rot in hell you stupid bitch!"

The smile on the girls face vanished as she lifted her hand to reveal a small sphere of golden energy building in her hand. "Meet cha there."

The blonde's head tilted in confusion and she heard someone shout "HA!" she turned her head and saw a giant golden beam rocketing towards her. Her eye's widened slightly as she saw it and quickly threw the small golden sphere towards the beam which easily consumed it and continued barreling its way towards her. The blast hit her like a torpedo and swept her off her feet into the ground, burying her in several feet of rubble.

Gohan landed next to Vegeta who was struggling to get up. The young boy offered his hand but Vegeta swatted it away. "Get away from me brat." Gohan took a step back.

Once Vegeta was up Gohan asked "Who was-"

"An android." Vegeta answered quickly, attempting to build his energy back up. Gohan didn't question any further, he had seen stranger, much stranger, like when he found out that his dad was an alien and that having a tale meant you turned into a giant monkey.

Gohan noticed Vegeta struggling to regain his super saiyan form and said "Here" he grabbed Vegeta's unharmed arm and focused.

Vegeta quickly responded with "The hell are you-" before feeling a fresh flow of energy pouring onto his own energy. A few moments later Vegeta pulled his arm away from Gohan and said "That's enough." He quickly transformed and said "Keep the rest of your energy, you'll need it." Gohan took a step back and nodded. He noticed the rubble to his left beginning to shift and quickly turned towards it, in a ready stance.

The girl emerged from the rubble and looked over at Vegeta with a scowl. She glanced down and noticed the small seven year old in a fighting stance. Her frown disappeared and was replaced with a large smile. "awww!"She leaned over, hands on her knees and said in a kiddy voice "Are you the one who sent that big energy blast?"

Gohan took a step back in confusion "…um…?"

The smile on her face once again vanished as she said "Cause it really hurt." She lifted her hand to reveal a large golden sphere aimed at Gohan.

She was about to release it before a small blast shot past Gohan's head and into the sphere, causing it to explode in her hand, the force sent her several feet away.

Vegeta stepped past Gohan and said "Don't forget your fights with me bitch." He turned his head and said to Gohan "Find the namekian and get him to safety, we can't afford to lose the dragon balls." Gohan nodded and had turned to fly off when Vegeta added "And try to avoid the other one."

Gohan looked back at Vegeta, his mouth slightly ajar "The other one?"

Vegeta nodded "There's another one, he has black hair and an orange bandana, watch out for him." He saw that Gohan was stunned in place and spit "Move it brat!" Gohan was brought back to his senses and nodded, he quickly turned and flew to where Piccolo was lying unconscious. Vegeta watched as the boy picked up the Namekian and flew off.

#18 grinned at the saiyan prince "Seems someone's got a soft spot huh?" she got into a ready stance.

Vegeta laughed "I just don't want the brat in the way when I crush you." While he didn't want to admit it, the android was right, Vegeta did want that boy safe. _He may be all that's left of the saiyan race soon. _Vegeta thought before rushing towards the android.


	2. the last saiyan

Gohan was going as fast as he could while carrying Piccolo, he was heading to kami's tower. He could feel the battle raging behind him but couldn't pay attention to the power levels, or, level. Gohan had noticed that he hadn't been able to sense anything from the girl, and he suspected the same from the other android.

He had been halfway there when a sudden blast of energy hit him in the back, causing him to drop his master. "Mister Piccolo!" he shouted and rushed towards his unconscious friend, only to be yanked back by his hair.

"Where you think you're going?" Gohan held his head in pain and looked up to see an odd looking boy with straight black hair and an orange bandana.

"The other android…" Gohan whispered his eyes full of terror.

The boy grinned "Yup, I'm #17, and from your little whisper I'm guessing you've met my sister, #18."

Gohan took a mental note _they go by numbers… _before whimpering "p-please, let me go." He was floating with #17 now, trying to relieve the stress on his hair.

The android let his head fall back and laughed before looking Gohan dead in the eye and saying "Now why would I let my new punching bag leave?"

"Aw, can't you share?" both #17 and Gohan turned their head to see #18 floating only a few yards away with her arms crossed. Gohan took notice of her clothes, how damaged and torn they looked, along with the dirt and grime covering her body, it looked like her clothes had taken quite the beating, but she looked perfectly unharmed.

"What, your punching bag gone?" #17 replied with a grin. Gohan's eyes widened as he realized that they were talking about Vegeta.

"Yeah, that guy's dead," #18 said with a shrug "But he put up a fun fight."

"Aha!" he pointed a finger at her "See you had your fun." He lifted Gohan "now it's time for mine." He pulled his arm back and was preparing to punch the small saiyan when a sudden foot collided with #17's face, causing him to release Gohan and send him flipping through the air before he came to a stop a few yards away.

Gohan looked to his side to see the bloody Namekian in a strained battle stance. "Piccolo!" Gohan hugged his friend for a brief moment before letting go and saying " I didn't know if you were…" they were floating pretty high in the sky when he had dropped Piccolo, and plus in his damaged state… Gohan hadn't known whether or not he had made it.

#17 rubbed his face "That hurt you green little freak." He turned his head towards #18 and said "You know what? I'm in a giving mood, you can have the kid, I'm ganna enjoy the Martian." He cracked his knuckles and grinned "come at me green man." He opened his arm out wide, as if he were expecting a hug.

Piccolo moved in front of Gohan "I'll take you both on."

#17 laughed "You were barely a match when you had all of your friends with you, now it's just you and" he gestured to Gohan "That kid."

Gohan took a deep breath as #17 spoke, he leaned over and whispered into Piccolo's ear "He… he doesn't mean… Krillen, and everyone?" Piccolo only nodded, causing Gohan to continue "They, They aren't, d-dead… are they?" Piccolo paused for a moment, before slowly nodding again.

_NO! _Gohan's eyes shut tight as he took in the information, he could feel himself slipping _NO,NO,NO,NO,NO! they can't be dead, they, they just can't, _tears streamed down his face.

#17 grinned and pointed at Gohan "Looks like someone's having a little fit."

#18 briefly smiled before returning to her frown and said "Looks like you right."

#17 took noticed as Gohan glared at him, his fists clenched into little balls of fury. "What!?" #17 said in between laughter "Little cry baby's mad at me?" #17 burst out again laughing.

Thoughts were shooting through Gohans mind

_They killed Krillen_

_They killed Yamcha_

_They killed Tien_

_They killed chiaotzu_

_They killed Vegeta _

_They killed all those people in west city_

There was a long pause as he finally let himself go.

_And now I will kill them._

Gohan roared and #17 stopped laughing. Piccolo looked over his shoulder and watched as the young half saiyan's hair began to spike, and a golden aura surrounded him. His pupils changed from black to teal.

Piccolo watched in amazement _do it, _he thought _c'mon, do it._

There was a sudden flash of light in which everyone covered their eyes. Everyone looked back to Gohan and watched as the Hybrid floated out from behind his master, lightning shooting out from him, and his hair, spiky and golden.

Piccolo grinned at his student, now they might have a chance.

"Oh great," #18 sighed "Another blonde."

"Don't worry sis." #17 said with confidence "I've got this one." He faced the small super saiyan and said "come at me little-"his words were cut off as Gohan appeared in front of him and dug his fist deep into the android's gut. #17 doubled over clutching his stomach before Gohan kicked him across the face sending him spiraling away. The boy appeared above the android and drove his fist into #17's cheek before he Round house kicked him in the stomach. #17 doubled over once again which allowed Gohan to smash his knee into the android's face. #17 held his nose for a few moments in which Gohan drove his elbow into the android's throat. #17 gasped for air and clung to his neck; Gohan grabbed the android by the hair and began to repeatedly smash his elbow into the side of the androids head.

Gohan pulled back his arm to hit #17 again when a sudden blast hit Gohan, knocking him away. Gohan was confused for a moment, before looking up and hearing #18 shout "You ok bro?"

#17 nodded while rubbing the side of his face "I'm fine!" he growled "The little bastard just caught me by surprise." He pointed at Gohan and said "Your dead little brat." before rushing towards him.

Gohan couldn't keep up, he could barely block the attacks let alone fight back. Gohan thought he saw an opening and punched forward, #17 easily avoided the punch and shoved his knee into Gohans stomach, the young saiyan resisted the pain and pushed upward off #17's knee, ramming his head into the androids face. The android swore and slapped Gohan's face hard before grabbing the back of the boy's head and crashing his knee in the boy's nose. The android let go of Gohan's head and let the boy droop a little before kicking him hard in the stomach. Gohan doubled over clutching his stomach and felt #17 stomp on his back with a force that sent him crashing to the earth.

Gohan stood up from his crater and stared up at the android thinking, _what happened!? I was just beating the crap out of him! What changed!? _ Gohan watched as #17 dove down towards him, Gohan jumped out of the way as #17 punched the ground where Gohan had just been, causing the crater to grow even bigger. Gohan rushed forward and smashed his foot into #17's chest, the android took a step back, registering the pain before grabbing the half saiyan's foot and slamming him to the ground. Gohan tried to get up but instead was pushed deeper into the crater as #17 slammed his knees into Gohan's chest.

#17 was on top of Gohan now, repeatedly smashing his fists into the poor boy's face. The android had Gohan's arms pinned underneath his knees, all he could do was lay there and take it. After the tenth punch Gohan had fallen out of his super saiyan state, this was the fifteenth punch. Gohan began to slip into his thoughts.

_I'm sorry mom_

**_SLAM_**

_I'm sorry Piccolo_

**_SLAM_**

_I'm sorry everyone_

**_SLAM_**

_I'm sorry dad_

**_SLAM_**

_I've failed you…_

Gohan was nearly unconscious as #17 pulled back his arm forming another fist

Gohan thought _Friends… I hope your deaths weren't as painful as this. _Before he shut his eyes and waited for the fist to collide with his face yet again.

But it didn't

Suddenly, Gohan didn't feel the weight of the android on top of him anymore. Gohan slowly opened his eyes and saw Piccolo reaching down to pick him up. "m-mr…piccolo…" tears were visibly falling down the namekians face as he cradled the young saiyan in his arms.

Piccolo spoke softly "You did well Gohan, I'm very proud." He held the young boy gently in his arms.

"T-thanks…m-mr. Picco…lo" Gohan murmured. He heard some distance away android 17 shouting "I thought you had him!"

Piccolo looked over towards the androids and spoke quietly "Gohan."

"Y-yes…mr. P-piccolo?" he said the words slowly, each syllable causing him more pain.

"I need you to run,"

Gohan's eyes widens slightly as he felt his master's remaining energy begin to pour over his. Gohan looked up at his master and stammered "P-piccolo…what are y-you, d-doing?"

The namekian set Gohan down on his feet and said "That's all I can give, now run."

Gohan looked up at his friend with tears in his eyes "but p-piccolo"

Piccolo looked down at Gohan and shouted "I said RUN!"

Gohan immediately jumped into the air and rose several hundred feet. He looked around for a few seconds. He could barely see, much of his face was swollen, his left eye was too damaged to open, and he could only barely see out of his right one. Finally he noticed a large forest to his right.

_There_

He dove towards it pushing all he could into getting to that forest. When he reached it he smashed into a large tree, knocking it down. He stood up holding his side when he heard Piccolo's mental message.

_Gohan, you will always be my friend, never stop fighting._

Gohan turned his attention to where he had last left his master, just before he heard a blood curdling scream. Gohan's eyes poured tears as he listened to his masters wails of pain so far away. He covered his ears and sat down, his knees curled up to his chest as he tried to block out his masters screams, but his sensitive saiyan hearing caught everything.

A few minutes later the screaming stopped and Gohan removed his hands from his ears. He moved over to a large oak tree and cuddled up against it, trying to make himself as small as possible. Tears streamed down his face as he wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked back and forth

back and forth

back and forth.


	3. ten years later

Gohan woke up before the dream ended, but he didn't need the dream to tell him the rest of the story; he remembered how awhile after Mr. Popo had come down on his magic carpet and brought Gohan back to Kami's look out. How he tended to Gohan's wounds and waited for him to heal; and Gohan remembered the moment he was better he had flown back down to earth and fought the androids again,

And again,

And again,

And again,

And again,

More than ten years had passed, and Gohan still hadn't defeated the androids. It taunted him every day he woke up in the morning. Gohan sat up in his bed and felt at the stump where his arm had been just a month ago. He sat in his bed, thinking about the years that had past, just before his alarm clock went off. He calmly turned off the alarm and stood up from his bed, he always woke up before his alarm nowadays. He pulled on a T-shirt and some torn up blue jeans and stepped out of his room. He walked into the kitchen and saw Bulma in a light blue robe sipping on her coffee at the table while reading the newspaper.

"Morning." She said without looking away from the paper.

"morning." He replied back as he moved to the fridge. He made six thick sandwiches and poured himself some orange juice before sitting down across from Bulma.

Bulma looked over at Gohan's plate and said "You haven't been eating as much as you used too."

Gohan looked back at her with his best look of confusion "What are you talking about? This is how much I usually eat."

Bulma looked at him with concern "No it's not, there's probably still some bread left over…" Bulma paused a moment to stand up and look over at the counter to discover that she was right. She continued "I remember when you used to eat at least two loafs of bread, and probably eat as much meat to kill a cow and then down a whole gallon of milk." She sat back down and stared at Gohan for a response.

"I don't know." Gohan shrugged "I guess I'm just not as hungry as I used to be." Gohan caught Bulma's eye look behind him and grinned. He casually picked up one of the sandwiches and brought it to his mouth as if to eat it but instead, quickly tossed the sandwich over his shoulder.

Gohan's grin widened as he heard the familiar voice "Damn it!"

Gohan turned his head and saw Trunks in a long sleeve grey shirt and sweat pants, covered in his sandwiches ingredients, lettuce hung limply from his shoulder. "Oh sorry Trunks," Gohan snickered "Didn't see ya there." He laughed a little before saying "Good morning buddy."

"Morning…" Trunks grumbled before moving to the kitchen, Gohan heard him pouring a bowl of cereal. Trunks returned to the table and slumped into his chair between Gohan and Bulma. "Morning mom."

Bulma smiled at him and said "Morning honey." before returning to her newspaper.

Trunks turned to Gohan and whined "Why can I never sneak up on you anymore!?"

Gohan chuckled before ripping a chunk off his sandwich. "You can't sneak up on me kid, it's impossible."

"I used to be able to…" Trunks turned his attention to his mother, who was staring at her newspaper intently.

"mom… you look so serious." Trunks stared at the newspaper in her hands.

Bulma replied by saying "Well it's the news honey…"

Gohan took a sip of his orange juice and said "She's reading the funnies."

Bulma glared at Gohan for a moment before sighing and laying the newspaper flat on the table, revealing comics.

Trunks laughed as Bulma asked "how'd ya know?"

"You kept smiling and giggling, it was easy to tell." He downed two sandwiches in a flash and chugged down the orange juice.

He looked over at Trunks who had downed his bowl of cereal and was reaching for the box for his next. "Hey Trunks, after breakfast, you wanna train?"

Trunks refilled his bowl and began to pour the milk "um…I… guess…" Trunks stole a quick glance at Gohan's arm, then at where the other should have been. Trunks had always felt awkward now whenever he sparred with Gohan. He didn't want to take advantage of Gohan's injury, so he would only focus on Gohan's right side when he attacked, but after he was done sparring, he always felt unbalanced, and he knew that Gohan meant the best for him whenever they fought, but he felt that training with Gohan was doing more harm than good.

Gohan caught Trunks uncertainty and opened his mouth to comment on it when Bulma interrupted him. "Actually, before you do that… Gohan, I was wondering if you could run an errand for me."

Gohan finished another sandwich before saying "Sure Bulma, what do you need?"

"Well…." Bulma said frustrated "It was supposed to be a surprise, but I've been working on a mechanical arm to… you know, replace the one you lost."

Trunks's eye's widened at Bulma's words _I could get my old instructor back! We would have a chance at those androids! _

"But the problem is…" Bulma continued "I've never been good at those types of mechanics, so I starting thinking about Frieza, you know when he came back to earth all mechanical."

"I get it." Gohan said as he finished his last sandwich "You want to use his arm as a base."

Bulma nearly shouted "Exactly! With that sort of technology I could easily build you another arm!" she put her finger to her lip and thought a few seconds before adding "And I could even give you some upgrades, Gohan, how would you like to have a flamethrower?" she grinned.

Gohan thought about it for a few seconds before saying "While it would be awesome at barbecues, I think I'll pass." Gohan stood up and pushed the chair in. "So where do you need me to go?"

"Well…" Bulma bit her lip "That's another problem… I…. don't know."

Both Gohan and Trunks face palmed.

Bulma growled at them "Look! I have a few theories where it could have ended up."

Gohan pulled his hand from his face and said "And said theories are…?"

Bulma sighed and said "Well one theory is that it's at a secret military base, somewhere in the world, you know, being examined." Gohan tilted his head back and groaned "Gohan! You know full well I have coordinates for all those bases."

"Yeah, but then there's still the matter of me flying to each one searching for it." Gohan plumped down in his chair, imagining his voyage.

"Don't be ridiculous Gohan, I know if it was delivered to a government facility, it would have been sent to one that specializes in those types of studies, and there's only three in the country, here-" she grabbed a notepad and scribbled down the coordinates " this is where their at." She handed the note to Gohan who quickly studied it.

"These actually aren't that far away…." Gohan pocketed the note and said "So what's your next theory?"

"Huh?"

"You said you had a few theories, what are your other two?"

"Oh," Bulma quickly answered "Well the second theory is that it's still somewhere near where Frieza and king Cold landed, Your dad blasted him pretty hard, It's possible his arm wasn't found and is still…within a…miles radius?"

Gohan nodded, contemplating how long a miles search would be. "And your third theory?"

"That it was completely destroyed by Goku's blast."

Gohan laughed, pushing his palm to his face "So, this could just be a wild goose chase huh?"

Bulma laughed and shrugged "Yeah, pretty much."

"Brilliant." Gohan sighed before standing up from the table and heading to the door. He spoke quietly "Best be going…" as he pulled on his shoes, he had learned to leave them laced; it was too difficult to tie them with one hand.

Trunks quickly said "I'll help!"

Gohan looked back at him and said "What?"

"I'll help you search!" Trunk walked over to Gohan and grabbed his shoes, quickly putting them on.

"No Trunks, it's too dangerous, what if the androids catch up with us?" Gohan shook his head "I can't afford to lose you."

"Gohan I've gotten a lot stronger since last time! I know I can hold my own against those things!" Trunks began to power up "Watch Gohan!" there was a sudden whoosh of air as Trunks powered up to his fullest.

Bulma quickly shouted "Not in the house! Not in the house!" while trying to keep her funnies from ripping out of her hands.

Trunks immediately powered down and said "Sorry mom." He turned to Gohan and said "You saw right? You see how much stronger I am right?"

Gohan simply nodded and remained silent, thinking. _While his power has grown he still isn't close to being on par with even one of those androids, if we were to be caught off guard… _Gohan snapped out of his trance and quickly said "You can come, but on one condition." Trunks nodded enthusiastically, waiting for Gohan's terms "If the androids do find us, you run, you don't try to help me no matter what."

Trunks sulked and said "But Gohan, I know I can help this time!"

Gohan shook his head, he knew that Trunks wasn't going to listen, he would have to play the guilt card "Trunks, I can't have you be in the way again."

Trunks whined "Gohan, you-"

Gohan interrupted "Do you remember the last time you 'helped'?"

Trunks froze at Gohan's comment and looked down ashamed. Gohan wanted to take back his comment, but knew that what he said was what Trunks needed to hear, he wasn't ready to fight the androids, he was still young, and until he could go super saiyan Gohan couldn't risk him in any major battles.

Gohan stepped forward and put his hand on Trunks's shoulder "look, I don't blame you for my arm… that was because of the androids… but for now it's just easier if you don't get involved in the fights."

Trunks nodded slowly, and then looked up at Gohan "But when will I get to fight?"

Gohan grinned and ruffled his hair " Trunks, your still only 14, let yourself grow up a little before you start fighting."

Trunks replied "But Gohan… you were half my age when you started fighting the androids."

Gohan frowned, his eyes began to glaze over as he started to recall the last ten years "Trunks… That was only because I had to, had I not, the human race might as well be extinct."

Bulma listened as they spoke, and realized that Gohan never did have a childhood. From the time he was 4 he had been fighting. First it had been Raditz, then Nappa and Vegeta, then Freiza and his men. Once Freiza had been killed for good there had been nearly a year and a half of peace. Bulma had known that this had been when Gohan was happiest, whenever she would pay the Son's family a visit she would always see Gohan and his father outside the house, playing; or Goku leaning over his son's shoulder trying to understand the work Gohan had been doing, and Gohan laughing after trying to explain it. Then Goku had suffered from the heart virus. Bulma remembered pulling in the top doctors from all around the world to try and save her friend. But none were able to. And then less than a year went by before the androids attacked. They murdered all of the fighters except for Gohan, who barely managed to get away. Bulma still occasionally cried at night as she longed for her friends… Krillen… Yamcha… hell she even sometimes missed Vegeta. _Arrogant bastard _Bulma thought, she hated the man, but all the same she was grateful for the gift he had given her which she had named Trunks.

Gohan continued "If I could have, I definitely would have enjoyed my childhood, and especially my teen years." Gohan grinned at Trunks "You have a chance to enjoy being a kid, don't waste it fighting the androids."

Trunks nodded and kept quiet

Gohan turned and opened the front door. He stepped out and turned to Trunks who was still standing there with his head down "Are you coming or not?"

Trunks lifted his head and smiled at Gohan before racing out the door.

* * *

#18 watched in amusement as her brother moved the joystick back and forth while rapidly mashing the punch button. "Hit him….Hit him damn it... Stop moving!" #17 shouted growing angery at the arcade game "Why won't you lose! Stop hitting me! Fuuuuu-" #17 lifted the machine and threw it against the wall, smashing it to bits.

"Temper tantrum?" #18 said with a grin

"Shut up!" #17 shouted back at her. They had been at this arcade for the last half hour, every time #17 realized he wasn't good at the game, he would destroy the game. There were a lot of broken games… #17 looked around the trashed arcade before saying "Let's get out of here, I'm bored."

#18 sighed and said "Alright," before blasting a hole through the ceiling and floating out through it, #17 followed. The blond android looked across the city as she rose in the sky. The entire city was basically rubble, save the small arcade they had just left, which #17 promptly blasted on the spot.

#17 floated over to her and said "You want to hit pepper city next?"

#18 shrugged and said "Not really."

#17 looked at her and asked "Well where do you want to hit?"

"To be honest…" #18 began "I don't really want to hit anywhere."

#17 looked stunned; he floated over to his sister and put his hand to her forehead before saying "Are you ok?"

#18 swiped his hand away and said "Of course I am! I've… I've just been thinking…"

#17 laughed and said "So THAT'S the problem."

#18 responded sharply "Shut up #17! Are you ganna listen or not?" #17 nodded and motioned her to continue. #18 spoke slowly "I've just been thinking about… well, you know how much we hate Dr. Gero?" #17 nodded "Well I was just remembering what he was ordering us to do before we killed him, how he wanted us to kill Goku and help him achieve world domination and all that."

#17 nodded again and said "Yeah…"

"Well I was just thinking about how while we didn't get the chance to kill Goku himself, we did kill all of his friends…accept Blondie."

#17 nodded again and said "by the way we need to get him."

#18 pointed a dangerous finger at him and said "Don't interrupt me."

"Sorry."

"Anyway," #18 continued "As I was saying. While we didn't kill Goku, we did do the next best thing, by killing all of his friends. And when it comes to world domination," She motioned to the scene all around them "We've already done it. No one can stop us; we can do whatever we please whenever we want to!"

#17 looked at her confused "What are you saying?"

"What am I saying?" #18 repeated him "I'm saying that we've done everything Dr. Gero asked us to."

"And so what if we did?" #17 interrupted her "We did all this by ourselves; we did it because it was fun, and we did it because we wanted to."

"But what if we didn't?" #18 said back "What if Dr. Gero wired us to want to do this, to think that destruction is fun, that killing is fun."

#17 laughed and said "That's ridiculous, he couldn't have done that."

"Why do you think that?" #18 asked, while putting her finger to her chin.

"Because it's impossible, no one could rewire someone's brain like that."

"But #17." #18 began "He altered our brains so that we couldn't even remember our lives before we became androids. Hell, I can't even remember what my real name was, can you?" #17 shook his head and #18 continued "So what's to say that he couldn't rewire us?"

#17 thought about it for a moment before saying "Alright, let's say he did rewire us. Why would he even let you begin to consider that as a fact? Wouldn't he have put up some sort of defense to make sure you never even thought that?"

#18 paused and thought for a moment, _that's a good point, why would he let me have this thought? And not only that, but why am I only thinking this now after so many years of our carnage? _#18 began to tap her chin with her finger as she began to zone out.

#17 floated over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Causing her to jump and look up at him "Look, we've done the things we've done because WE wanted to, not because some scientist programed it into us, we are our own people, no one tells us what to do."#18 nodded while still deep in thought. Her brother's words were comforting, but she still wasn't so sure what to believe.

"So do you want to go destroy Pepper city now?" #17 asked softly

#18 slowly shook her head and said "Not really… I kinda just want to go home."

#17 sighed and said "fine, we can go home, but let's go destroy Pepper city tomorrow, ok?"

#18 shrugged and said "Yeah… Yeah, ok"

#17 turned around and was about to blast off when a sudden grin broke out on his face. He turned his head back to #18 and said "Hey, you up for a little bit of blonde?" #17 pointed and #18 caught sight of Gohan and Trunks far in the distance flying by, unaware of their presence.

#18 groaned and said "I really don't know If I'm in the mood…"

#17 suddenly whined "Oh come on! You didn't let me destroy Pepper city, at least let me go and kill blonde!"

#18 sighed and said "fine." #17 smiled at her before blasting off towards the two unaware fighters. #18 followed as she thought _I really don't feel like fighting right now…_

* * *

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES_**

**_wow was that a long chapter, it might have been longer than both of my previous chapters combined... sorry to everyone who read this chapter, I wanted everyone to get a feel for Gohan's life leading up to now, his relationship with Trunks and Bulma...etc. I also wanted to get the whole idea that the androids had been rewired out there... I had been teetering on whether or not I should post this as two chapter's but decided to post it as one so that the next chapter could be the big fight! (woooooooohoooooo) don't worry, action is coming soon, thank you to all the people reading this story and please don't be shy, post a review or PM me about the story, I'm open to criticism and also would like to know if I made a mistake through the story, so that I can fix it. anyway that's all folks! the next chapter will be up soon! (dam that was a long author's note)_**


	4. The androids ambush

Gohan looked over his shoulder and saw Trunks flying alongside to his right, with his sword strapped to his back. "Why did you bring that?" Gohan asked, after they had left, Trunks had immediately flown back to the house to retrieve the sword Gohan had given to him when he was younger.

Trunks pulled out the sword and raised it as he flew "Because it's simply awesome!" Trunks had loved it the moment he got it; Bulma on the other hand had needed a little convincing before she allowed her son to run around with a giant knife strapped to his back.

"Um… Trunks" Gohan said nervously "Put that away."

Trunks stared at him confused before asking "Why?"

_Because I said so! _Gohan thought but instead responded with "You know how people say not to run with scissors?" Trunks nodded "I'm pretty sure there's something in there about flying with swords." Trunks laughed and put his sword away.

Gohan pointed down towards a wasteland and shouted "There!" he dipped down and landed on the ground; a mound of dust flew over him causing him to cough madly. Trunks landed next to him and helped him blow away the rest of the dust.

"Why here?" Trunks looked around "Looks like a barren wasteland to me."

Gohan nodded "It is," he motioned his hand, gesturing to the entire area before continuing "But it's also the place where my father defeated Frieza for the last time."

"Oh." Trunks nodded and waited a few seconds before saying "So… we have to search the whole area?"

"Well…" Gohan grinned "You do."

Trunks shouted "What!?"

Gohan grinned and said "I'm ganna go and visit the government facilities Bulma said might have the arm, and while I'm doing that, you'll start your search through the area."

"So what, your ganna just leave me here?" Trunks asked angrily

Gohan smiled and shrugged "Pretty much."

Trunks growled at him "What type of guardian are you?"

Gohan laughed and shrugged again "I don't know, a bad one?"

He turned and began to fly off before Trunks shouted after him "Gohan wait!"

The older saiyan slowly turned and said blandly "Yeah?"

Trunks moaned and shouted "I don't wanna search miles and miles in a desert!"

Gohan looked down at him seriously before saying "You said you wanted to help; now this is how you can, stop whining and start looking."

Trunks stared at his sensei with a determined look in his eye. Gohan returned the look, and sighing Trunks finally said "Alright Gohan… I'll start looking."

Gohan nodded before saying "And you know that if the Androids show up you need to-"

Trunks interrupted him "I know, I know, flare my ki and hide, and if I can't hide, run." Trunks rolled his eyes; it was second nature to him now.

Gohan smiled at him and said "Don't worry Trunks, if I find the arm at one of the bases, I'll come straight back and we'll go to a buffet." _One of the few that haven't banned us yet _thought Gohan.

Trunks smiled and shouted "Promise?"

Gohan grinned at him "Promise."

* * *

Far above Gohan and Trunks, the androids watched the scene unfold.

#18 said impatiently "C'mon, let's go, I'm tired of waiting."

#17 put up his hand, his eyes locked on Gohan "Wait, let's wait for Blondie leave, then we can take out the little one easily."

#18 groaned and said "That's ganna take too much time. How long are we going to have to wait?"

#17 shrugged as he saw Gohan take off in the other direction "Maybe fifteen minutes, I want to make sure he's a good distance away before we kill the little guy, then we can ambush Blondie when he comes back searching for his little friend."

#18 groaned again and said "A WHOLE fifteen minutes?"

#17 looked at her and said "Well aren't you the impatient one."

#18 responded dully, crossing her arms "I just want to get this over and done with so that we can go home."

#17 nodded and said "Patience sis, we'll be home soon." He looked back to Trunks who had begun flying around, searching for something. #17 continued with an evil glint in his eyes "It'll all be over in less than a half hour," #18 groined as she heard 'half hour'.

* * *

Gohan had only been gone five minutes and already he felt uneasy. He kept feeling that the androids would show up any minute and blast him to pieces in his weakened state. He wasn't worried about Trunks, he had left him in the middle of nowhere, they wouldn't go there, their natural habitats were cities.

Gohan stopped as he reached one of the coordinates that Bulma had given him. He looked all around him, trying to find any sort of building that could be a possible government facility; but it was no use, he was still in the desert, and all that was here were big rocks…rocks and sand. Gohan sighed and said "Maybe Bulma got the coordinates wrong…" He let himself drop and landed on a large dome like rock which was unusually larger than the others. As he landed, Gohan heard a light _*ping*_ sound. Gohan looked down at the rock, confused. He tapped his foot on the surface, _something's strange about this rock… it's too round. _Gohan thought. He lifted his foot and stomped on the rock, but instead of the Rock shattering like Gohan expected, it dented.

_It's hollow! _Gohan realized. …_and made of metal…_

He jumped down from the rock and began to circle it, closely examining it's structure. He suddenly stopped and squinted, he thought he could make out the general shape of a door, but couldn't be sure. He moved towards it and felt for the crevice but instead he felt a small square shape jetting out from the rock. The Rectangle was covered in sand which Gohan promptly bushed of revealing a key pad. Gohan grinned and pulled out his IPhone, quickly dialing Bulma.

She picked up on the third ring "Hey Gohan, what's up? Have you found the arm yet?"

"No not yet." Gohan kept feeling around for the crevice but was unsuccessful "But I think I've found one of the bases."

Gohan heard Bulma on the other end say "What do you mean; you THINK you found one of the bases."

Gohan answered sheepishly "I mean I'm not so sure… it's…. it's kind of a big rock."

There was a long pause on the other end before Bulma said "What?"

Gohan answered quickly, becoming impatient "Look there's a big rock with a keypad sticking out of it. I called to ask if you had any codes that could get me in."

"Into a big rock?" Gohan could hear Bulma cracking up on the other end.

"Bulma." Gohan said seriously

"Alright, alright," Gohan heard Bulma ruffling through some papers "Let me look…"

Nearly a minute passed before Bulma returned to the phone "Hi, you still there?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Gohan heard Bulma wrinkling some papers "I've got something, but I don't know if it'll work, it's pretty old and probably outdated."

"Give it to me."

"Alright…" Bulma began to list the numbers, which Gohan entered as she spoke. He was surprised at how many digits there were to enter, it began to make sense though, if this really was a military base, then they wouldn't want some common hacker to be able to get in.

Gohan hit the last digit and asked "Is that it?"

"yup."

Gohan said "Alright…" as he hit what he assumed was the enter key, some of the buttons had been sanded down.

There was a long pause where nothing happened. Gohan held his breath.

Then an automated voice said "Incorrect password."

Gohan sighed and said into the phone "Didn't work."

Bulma grumbled on the other end "Sorry kid, that's all I got… can't you just blast the Rock to get in?"

Gohan nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him "Yeah but I didn't want to do that, if there are people in there that haven't been killed by the androids, then blasting a hole through their base would seem pretty-"

Before Gohan finished his sentence the rock suddenly opened and four large men with very big guns poured out, surrounding him.

"Rude." Gohan finished while eyeing the four men. All of them wore black suits and ties with shades planted on their face.

"It's like men in black." Gohan whispered before he heard the one in front of him shout

"Down on the ground! Now!"

Gohan casually shook his head and said "No can do," He gestured to his T-shirt "This is brand new; I'm trying to keep it clean."

"He said on the ground!" The one behind Gohan shouted just before he tried to kick out Gohan's legs, Gohan however, remained standing.

The half saiyan glance back at the man and said "Now that was rude," The man stared at Gohan utterly confused, he had put his full force into that kick, how was this man still standing?

"Now give me a second," he said as he brought the phone to his ear

The one to his left shouted "It's a bomb detonator!" and fired, hitting Gohan in the side of the face, the bullet did little more than annoy Gohan as it bounced off.

Gohan heard from the other end Bulma scream "What was that!?"

Gohan said "hold on," before lowering the phone and addressing the one who shot at him "You really need to work on your manners, I mean I'm on the PHONE."

He raised it back to his ear and heard Bulma say "Was that gunfire?"

"Yeah,I just got shot in the head by some real official looking guys." Gohan saw the men begin to step back in fear "What should I do?"

"Well a normal person would be rushed to the paramedics."

"Bulma." Gohan said impatiently "I meant about the guys who shot me."

Gohan heard the one to his right whisper as he took a trembling step back "Oh god, i-it's another android."

Gohan lowered the phone and rolled his eyes "I'm not an android." He paused a second making sure they had heard him "In fact, I've been fighting the androids." Gohan slightly drooped his head as he continued under his breath "for more than ten years now…"

There was a long pause before the one to his right approached him, studying him closely "Wait… YOU'RE THE golden warrior?"

_Golden warrior _Thought Gohan, _is that what their calling me?_

"Of course not," the man in front spoke "He doesn't have golden hair, or even the golden aura!"

The man to Gohan's left spoke "Yeah but… he does kinda look like him…"

Gohan sighed as he began to power up, he reached his limit in his base form and allowed himself to ascend into his super saiyan form.

All eight of the eyes staring at Gohan bulged at his transformation

The four men stood there staring at Gohan in his super saiyan form. Finally, the man behind Gohan broke the silence by shouting "It really IS him!"

The four men regained their silence and remained silent for a long time, stunned. Gohan also kept quiet, due to the fact that he had never been in this type of situation before, and knew not of what to do. The men calmly shot each other glances before respectively bowing to Gohan. Gohan looked around himself confused at the sudden changes in attitudes. The man in front spoke "We apologize for our behavior golden warrior, will you forgive us?"

Gohan said "Um… sure… uh" Gohan wasn't used to any position of power, and again didn't know how to respond.

All four men corrected their posture after Gohan's response. The one to his left said "And sorry for shooting at you."

Gohan responded by saying "it's…cool."

The man standing in front of Gohan said "Why are you here Golden warrior?"

Gohan could hear from his phone Bulma shouting out "Hello!?" and grinned.

He raised it to his ear and said "I don't think I'm ganna need your help for this one." and hung up the phone.

Gohan slid the phone into his pocket and said "Call me Gohan."

"Oh my god! The Golden warrior's name is Gohan!" the man behind Gohan squealed, Gohan turned and eyed him, the man was visibly giddy.

The man in front of Gohan spoke "We all are huge fans." He gestured to the rock and said "Everyone at the base roots for you when we see you fighting the androids."

The man to Gohan's left butted in "You have no Idea how scared we were after the last fight, we all thought you were dead."

Ignoring the question building in his head of HOW they watched his fights, Gohan smiled "don't worry, still alive and kicking," he motioned to his left arm, or where his left arm should have been "Just lost an arm."

The man to Gohan's right whispered "Oh, god…"

The man that stood in front of Gohan simply nodded and said "What do you need from us Gohan?"

Gohan answered "Well, I was wonder-" suddenly his eyes widened as he felt Trunks's ki flare.

Knowing exactly what it meant, Gohan turned and took off putting everything he could to getting to Trunks, he could hear the men shouting after him, confused.

_Stupid! _Gohan told himself _you were so stupid! How could you leave him alone like that!?_

He began to calculate, he knew how fast he was at full speed and the distance between he and Trunks. _Three minutes _he finally concluded_ please Trunks, stay alive for three minutes!_

* * *

They had appeared from nowhere, one moment he had been flying around searching for the stupid arm, the next he had felt a giant energy blast explode against his back.

Trunks was standing on the ground now, sword drawn, facing the androids standing not 20 feet away.

#18 sat on a rock, her legs were crossed, and she was more interested in her phone then she was with Trunks. #17 looked back at her and said "C'mon sis, join the fun."

#18 briefly looked up from her phone and said "Don't want to,"

#17 sighed and turned around to face #18, turning his back to Trunks "Just a minute ago you were dying to get down here,"

#18 spoke without even glancing at #17 "Yeah, but that was so that you could kill this kid and Blondie and then we could go home."

Trunks's eyes widened at #18's words, _their ganna kill Gohan? _Trunks suddenly felt Gohan's Ki rise and could sense him coming towards them. _No Gohan they'll kill you!_ _There's no way you can beat them with your injury! _ Trunks looked up into the sky, wondering if it was possible to see his sensei already, it was incredibly cloudy, so even if Gohan was visible, Trunks saw nothing.

Trunks thought for a moment as the androids argued. _No, _thought Trunks, _I'm not ganna get you killed, I already cost you your arm, if you try to save me again it'll cost you your life._ Suddenly, Trunks bolted, flying full speed away from the androids.

#17 quickly whipped his head away from #18 and shouted "He's getting away!"

#18 said calmly "Well duh."

#17 growled and took off into the air, chasing Trunks, #18 slowly followed.

Trunks looked back and saw that they were giving chase, _alright, _he thought, _here we go. _Trunks suddenly shot straight down towards the ground, the Androids followed suit, closing the distance quickly. Trunks looked back and saw that they were only a few yards behind him, still closing the gap. Trunk squinted at how close #18 was following #17 and grinned.

_Perfect_

Trunks saw the ground rushing towards him but continued. _50 feet… 30 feet… 15 feet… 5 feet!_

Trunks quickly turned and shot horizontally across the ground. #17 caught the trick and turned just as Trunks did, but #18 was too close to her brother when she tried and instead smashed into him, sending them both skidding across the ground. Trunks smiled as he realized his plan had worked and shot back up into the air, rising as quickly as he could. #17 jumped to his feet and put out his hands, palms facing Trunks as the boy bolted towards the sky. #17 began to rapidly fire as many blast's as he could at Trunks who was barely able to dodge and deflect them all while continuing to rise toward the clouds. Trunks batted away another blast and stole a glimpse at the large cloud only 50 feet above him.

_If I could only get there… _Trunks pleaded as he ducked underneath a large blast and spun around another. Gohan had always complimented him on his flying abilities.

Suddenly the blasts stopped and Trunks looked down, both #17 and #18 were flying at him, moving twice as fast as he was.

_Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!_

Trunks pushed as hard as he could and finally shot through the cloud. He allowed himself a sigh of relief before forming two large, golden balls of energy in his hands and willing them to move away from him before halting their movements and causing them to hover in place. He quickly darted back into the cloud and moved as far away from the balls of light as he could.

#17 shot into the cloud and looked around, #18 followed and said "Where is he?"

#17 continued to search through the cloud "I don't know," he swiped his hand through the mist "I can't see a dam thing through this Cloud!"

#18 nodded and said "Me neither…"

#18 scanned the air until her eyes came to rest on two feint balls of light "There!" she pointed

#17 grinned and said "Trying to charge attacks are we?" before rushing towards the light, he had his arm pulled back, a fist formed. He shot out of the cloud and punched at the light, which immediately exploded and sent him flipping backwards. He came to a halt and stared dumbfounded at where the balls of energy had been.

"The Hell?" #17 said confused.

Trunks grinned.

The young saiyan emerged from the cloud behind #17 and before the android could react drove his sword deep thru #17's shoulder. The android screamed out in pain as he felt the blade dig through his back, and exit out the other side. The swords stuck fast, embedded in #17.

#17 turned his head and looked at the half saiyan "You fucking brat!"

Trunk simply replied, a smirk on his face "An arm for an arm."

Trunks's eyes bulged out of his face as a fist planted itself into his stomach, making him release his sword. Rage was written on #18's face. She followed up with a quick kick to the side of his face, causing him to spin around. #18 grabbed both of his shoulders and drove her knee into the center of his back, Trunks gasped in pain as his spine bent backward. #18 released Trunks to do a front flip which she completed by smashing the heel of her foot into the back of Trunks's skull. Trunks immediately lost consciousness and began to plummet towards the ground. #18 directed her open palm towards Trunks's falling body and shot a powerful golden blast the size of a basketball at the unconscious teen.

Before it reached halfway towards Trunks, a light blue blast suddenly appeared and collided with the golden ball of death, knocking it off course. The Blast landed half a mile away, creating a crater as big as an entire neighborhood.

Trunks stopped falling as Gohan appeared and caught him the best he could with one arm. He slowly lowered Trunks's unconscious body to the ground. Gohan laid him flat and quickly placed his ear to the young saiyan's chest.

A sigh of relief escaped Gohan's mouth as he heard Trunks's heartbeat. Gohan's Relief quickly turned to anger as he shouted "Why didn't you listen to me!? I told you not to fight!"

Trunks swam back into consciousness as he heard his sensei's voice. Trunks's eyes slowly opened, he looked over at Gohan and smiled, "Sorry…Gohan." He pushed himself up slowly, fighting both the pain in his head and back as he said "But I was … leveling the playing field…" Trunks pointed and Gohan followed the finger.

He watched as #18 lowered herself to the ground a good 5 yards away. Gohan's eyes got big as he saw #17 descend, blood spurted out from the wound in his right shoulder, connecting to the arm that hung limply at his side. The injured android landed behind his sister, the sword's handle gripped tightly in his remaining hand. Gohan couldn't help but notice the look of complete hatred smeared across both the androids faces.

Gohan looked back at Trunks and smiled, as the warm feeling of pride washed over him. "You did a good job Trunks."

He stood up and faced the angered androids "But I'll take it from here."

_**AUTHORS NOTES:**_

_**dam was that another long chapter... I promise I'll put the Gohan vs androids fight scene in next, I kinda just got carried away and forgot...anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading! (don't forget to review)**_


	5. Gohan vs androids

_A/N:__ Hey guys! it's the fight scene I promised! Sorry it took me so long (I'm a slightly lazy writer)... anyway hope you enjoy!_

Gohan stood, eyeing the androids, watching their movements carefully. Slowly, he slid into his fighting stance, altering it by leading with his right arm. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Trunks shuffled to his feet and stood beside him, imitating his stance. Gohan shook his head and said without breaking eye contact with the androids "No Trunks, this is my battle, leave now."

Trunks kept his stance and glanced at Gohan before saying "Please Gohan, let me fight, you saw that I can help, you saw what I did to #17, I promise I won't be a liability this time."

Gohan growled and said "Before we left you said that you would listen to me." he caught glimpse of the androids whispering to each other and continued "Now listen. I need you to leave, if I fall now, you are our last hope. The world can't afford to lose both of us." He paused a moment before saying "Now go."

Trunks stared at his sensei, brother, and friend, and realized that Gohan knew that he couldn't defeat both the androids, he realized that Gohan was saying his farewells "Gohan… please…"

"I said go." Gohan spoke very seriously.

Trunks stared at his friend for several seconds; Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes. He clenched his fists and slowly nodded, lifting himself into the air. The young saiyan was preparing to take off when Gohan looked at him and spoke "Trunks before you go, I want you to remember this fact," Gohan recalled his old master's words as he spoke " You will always be my friend, no matter what, and I want you to know that I'll forever be proud of you ." Gohan took a long pause before adding "and never give up Trunks, never stop fighting."

Trunks looked stunned; tears began to slowly escape from his eyes as he stared at Gohan. Gohan saw that his friend was still floating there and said "Go Trunks."

The boy slowly nodded and turned, he stole one last tearful glimpse at Gohan before flying off in the other direction.

#17 sighed before walking towards Gohan, the sword gripped tightly in his hand. He stopped short about 4 yards away from Gohan and raised the sword, pointing it at the Saiyan's chest. "Now that you're done with your goodbyes." He rolled his eyes as he said 'Goodbyes' "Can we FINALLY kill you?"

Gohan grinned, lowering his stance "Go ahead and try."

#17 smirked and rushed towards Gohan, slashing the sword horizontally at Gohan's face, Gohan ducked and watched as the blade passed over his head, he stepped forward into #17's chest while charging a large Ki blast in his hand, his dug his knee into #17's stomach, causing the android to bend over the knee, Gohan removed the knee and quickly shoved the charging Ki blast into #17's face, causing it to explode and launching the injured android into the air. Gohan appeared behind #17 and quickly round house kicked him into the ground, where the android bounced as he skidded across the sand.

Gohan smiled before feeling a fist smash into his spine. He quickly spun around and saw #18 pulling her leg back for a kick. She sent it towards the left side of Gohan's face, who quickly crossed his arm across his body and caught the foot. Gohan began to spin, holding #18's foot tight as she began to flail around. The saiyan saw #17 get up and charge towards him. He released #18's foot and sent her flying towards her brother, who swiftly caught her.

"You ok sis?"

#18 nodded and said "Just fine…" she waited a moment before saying dizzily "Just waiting for the three Blondie's to reform into one."

#17 laughed before charging at Gohan, swinging the sword wildly. Gohan dodged all the swipes and threw a quick punch, #17 dodged to the left and delivered a hard kick to the saiyan's ribs, Gohan held his side for a moment and saw #17 raising the sword above his head to bring down on Gohan.

The half saiyan grinned.

He shot forward into #17 and shoved a bone cracking punch into the androids stomach. #17's eyes widened as he felt the punch and slowly let go of the sword, clutching his stomach. Gohan caught the Sword before it fell and said "You see the problem with wielding a sword when you only have one hand…" Gohan raised the sword above his head, the tip pointing down at #17. "Is that you can't block with the other one." The saiyan plunged the sword downward but instead of it slashing through the android, it bounced off with a *ding*. Gohan stared at the momentarily crippled android with confusion _why didn't that cut him?_ Gohan thought, _that should have passed right through him! How was Trunks able to stab him but I -_ Gohan didn't get the chance to finish the thought as a foot smashed into his jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Follow your own damn advice asshole." #18 spat before placing her hand on her brother's hunched over figure and saying "You ok?"

#17 straightened himself and swiped the hand away "I'm fine, he just caught me off guard."

#18 nodded before rushing towards the downed saiyan, charging a large Ki blast in her hand. Gohan shot to his feet, dropping the useless sword and saw a large shining blast hurtling towards him. He raised his arm and shot an equally large blast which collided with the other creating a deafening explosion. Dust launched into the air across the entire desert plain, and before it settled a hand shot out and punched Gohan in the back of the head. Gohan turned and saw #18's cold unfeeling eyes before her foot smashed against the inside of his calf, causing him to lose his footing and fall face first into the ground. #18 lifted her foot and stomped on the back of Gohan's head, his face dug into the dirt. She stomped on his head again and again before he tensed his body and created a large explosive wave that threw #18 to the ground. Gohan stood up and spit out the dirt that had been collecting in in his mouth. #18 jumped to her feet and glared at Gohan, who glared back.

Gohan charged towards the android but lost footing when he felt #17's foot collide with his back. Gohan fell to his hand and knees; he attempted to stand back up but was halted as #18 appeared at his side and kicked him in his stomach, causing him to roll over onto his back, shutting his eyes from the pain while still holding his side. He opened his eyes to see #17 standing over him, foot raised over his head. Gohan caught the foot before it smashed into his face and pulled down hard, making #17 stumble and fall to the ground next to the half saiyan. Gohan sat up, a large ball of golden energy building in his hand, and threw the energy into #17's face.

The explosion sent both Gohan and the android skidding across the ground away from each other. Gohan slowly got to his feet, wobbling and saw #18 charging towards him, fist cocked back. Gohan jumped into the air, avoiding the punch and planted both feet firmly into #18's face, sending the android to the ground. Gohan charged at the floored android and dug a devastating knee into her gut. #18 gasped and curled up into a ball, holding her stomach. Gohan saw this and floated slightly above her; He raised his hand above his head and said "Masenko…" A fist smashed into his face making Gohan shout "Gah!" before releasing the energy. #17 followed up with a swift kick to the half saiyan's head, Gohan ducked and aimed an uppercut at #17's chin. The android pulled his head back narrowly avoiding the punch and threw a fist of his own at Gohan's head, Gohan managed to block the fist with his elbow and kneed #17 in the stomach before hovering a few inches back and swinging his leg into the androids face causing #17 to spiral to the ground.

Both androids stood up and eyed Gohan who had lowered himself to the ground. Gohan shifted into his altered battle stance and watched as both androids charged at him. He whispered under his breath "Bring it on."

* * *

Trunks watched wide eyed behind a large rock formation as his master battled the androids. The moment after he had flown away from the battle, Trunks had sprinted back to the wasteland where he had left his friend, careful to conceal his energy so that Gohan wouldn't notice.

Trunks grinned as Gohan threw a well-placed punch into #18 nose, that grin quickly turned into a frown as #18 kicked Gohan away into #17's enormous energy blast which sent the hybrid crashing backwards into the Ground.

Gohan didn't get up.

Trunks watched in horror as Gohan's golden hair returned to black and his aura dissipated. Both androids landed on either side of him.

#18 knelt down and poked at the half saiyan's cheek "Huh, you'd think he would have put up more of a fight."

#17 grinned as he charged a deadly Ki blast in his remaining hand "Yeah, and I didn't even get to cut loose." He raised it above his head and prepared to throw it.

Gohan smirked

Suddenly Gohan was on his feet, startling #18 and confusing #17. The half saiyan shut his eyes tight and placed his open palm to the side of his face before shouting "Solar flare!"

A bright flash singed both #17's and #18's eyes, causing them to scream out in pain. #17 released the energy in his hand and clawed at his eyelids, trying to get the pain to stop. #18 shoved both her palms into her face, she had never felt an agony like this before.

Gohan quickly transformed into his super saiyan state and jumped into the air, he rose 50 feet into the sky before he halted and placed two fingers to his forehead, focusing intently.

Trunks recognized the move immediately.

_The Special beam cannon!_

Gohan had taught it to him a year ago, he remembered how Gohan had said the attack could pierce anything, but the buildup time was ridiculous. When Trunks had asked how long it took, Gohan told him that he had figured out how to lower it to only two minutes, but in a fight where every second counts, that was still too long.

_2 minutes… _

Trunks looked back to the androids who were still groveling on the ground holding their faces.

_Will the solar flare hold them for two entire minutes…? _

Slowly, #17 began to stand up, rubbing his eyes, he screamed "You stupid fucking bastard! Where are you!?"

#18 stood up next to her brother with her eyes barely open "Damn that hurt."

#17 responded sharply, losing his patience "No shit it did, now where the hell is he!?"

Trunks stood wide eyed as the androids began to slowly look around, he had been counting every second.

_Only 39 seconds… _

He knew that they would find Gohan soon, then they would rush him, and Gohan wouldn't get the chance to fire the special beam cannon.

#18 scanned the air and laid her eyes on Gohan's tense figure "There!"

Trunks's eyes widened as she shouted

_ Shit… _

* * *

Gohan's eyes nearly shot out of their sockets as he saw Trunks charge at the androids, his sharp eyes caught Trunks giving a slight nod before punching the unaware #17 in the face. Gohan's eyes widened even more as he realized that Trunks was trying to buy him a little time.

_Dammit Trunks! I was planning on them to rush me! I was going to fire the beam at close range!_

Gohan gritted his teeth and watched as his young friend started to be beaten to death, he had less than a minute left to charge, but Trunks was already only the ground, beaten to a pulp.

* * *

#17 laughed as he stomped on Trunks's ribs, breaking several "Ah! Finally I get to pay you back for that little sword incident!" he kicked Trunks in the side and sent him slowly rolling away.

#18 was sitting calmly on a rock, staring up at Blondie, she had never seen him do that pose, and was interested at what was coming next "#17, Blondie's still up there and-"

"SHUT UP!" #17 snapped "I WANT TO ENJOY THIS!"

#18 fell silent and whispered under her breath "Prick…"

#17 walked up to the nearly unconscious Trunks and stomped onto his face, digging his head several inches into the ground. He stomped again and again before saying "I'm glad you popped out you little fucker, now I-"

"#17!"

The android turned and madly shouted "WHAT!?" before seeing the shining spiraling beam bulleting at him. He tried to fly up and out of the way but something caught his foot. He looked down and saw Trunks's hand gripped tightly around his ankle.

"Let go you stupid little-" his words were cut off …as the beam burst through his chest.

#17 stood there stunned for a second, feeling at the gaping hole in his chest, he tried to take a breath in, but failed as his lungs and vital organs had been completely evaporated from the blast. Slowly, he crumbled to his knees, before collapsing into a growing pool of his own blood. #18 rushed to her brother's side, staring wide eyed at the hole in his chest. She knelt down and shook her brother, hoping that somehow he was still alive, even though she knew he was gone. She didn't cry, didn't show any sign of emotion as she gazed at her brother's motionless body. She slowly stood up and looked over to where Gohan was picking up the unconscious Trunks. Gohan noticed her gaze and glared back.

_Why isn't she upset?_ Gohan began to think_, I just killed her brother…how is she so calm?_

#18 took a deep breath before saying very calmly "You killed my brother."

Gohan only stared at her as he held Trunks in his arm.

#18 took in another deep breath before she said "Now I will kill you."

She bolted at him with a speed that made it hard for Gohan to even see her fist smash into his face. The half saiyan released Trunks and skidded across the ground awkwardly. He came to a stop and quickly jumped to his feet. #18 appeared at his side and planted her foot across his face, causing him to spiral into the air, #18 shot to his left and dug an elbow into his side, sending him to the ground hard. Gohan stood up shakily and shot towards the remaining android, fist cocked back, #18 easily closed the distance between them and threw a fist at Gohan's head, the half saiyan dodged to the right and smashed his fist into her ribs. #18 gasped and pulled back holding her side, Gohan rushed towards her not letting up and swung his leg at her other side. #18 growled and caught the leg underneath her armpit. She lifted her other arm and smashed her elbow down onto Gohan's leg, breaking it.

Gohan screamed as he felt his leg shatter, #18 released the damaged leg and shot into Gohan, punching Gohan in the gut with a force so hard it could topple a mansion. Gohan's eyes bulged out of their sockets as he doubled over holding his stomach. #18 clamped her hands together over her head and smashed them down onto Gohan's back, causing him to crater face first into the ground.

Gohan struggled to push himself to his hand and knees but failed as even that was too much for his battered body.

_Damn it!_ he thought_, I put too much energy into the special beam cannon _

He quickly collapsed to the ground, his hair faded to black and his aura died down. Gohan put all of his power into simply opening his eyes as he saw #18's feet touch down next to his face. She breathed lightly as she opened her palm down at Gohan and began charging the photon beam. She muttered the words "Goodbye son of Goku." and prepared to fire.

A small blast suddenly hit the android's shoulder and exploded, #18 blinked a few times stunned before turning her head and seeing Trunks several feet away. He was on his knees, bruises covered every inch of his body, and his left arm was wrapped around the middle of his chest, trying to lessen the pain of his broken ribs, his other arm was raised towards her, before it slowly flopped to his side.

Trunks was fighting to keep conscious as he whispered the word "Don't" before collapsing onto the ground.

#18 slowly turned her attention back to the crumpled form of Gohan; her arm hadn't wavered, and still contained the deadly ball of Ki. She stared into his eyes as she aimed the death ball. She didn't move.

_Why isn't she killing me?_

* * *

#18 stared down at Gohan, murder filling her thoughts. Nothing was going to stop her, noth-

#18 blinked a few times after she barely felt the small blast. She turned her head and watched as Trunks flopped to the ground after whispering his small plea of "Don't"

_Pathetic, _#18 thought, _why even bother? He knew it wouldn't make a difference, why even try._

She turned her attention back towards Gohan and prepared to release her Photon blast when the thought crept back into her mind.

_Why even try…_

#18 stared at Gohan blankly as she began to lose herself in thought, _why…why had he tried? That energy blast couldn't have in a million years harmed me…. Was that some sort of distraction?_

She whipped her head back towards Trunks to see his battered unconscious body still lying on the ground.

_I don't get it. Why did he throw it? If there's no point in something, why even try? If it's impossible, why do it? I don't get it!_

#18 glanced down at Gohan who was still looking up at her, the look of confusion was clear on his face.

"Stop fucking staring at me." #18 growled

Gohan continued to look at her, dumbfounded at the fact that he still existed.

"I said STOP FUCKING STARING AT ME!" as she screamed she swung a vicious kick to the side of Gohan's head. The half saiyan gritted his teeth as he felt the blow to his temple. He rolled over onto his side, his back now facing the android.

#18 released a frustrated sigh as she stared down at the fallen warrior

_Why the hell didn't he listen? Could've just shut his eyes and not gotten kicked in the face, but no! He wouldn't listen! He decided to keep on staring! To continue to annoy me! Why the hell does he constantly try to annoy me!?_

She gazed at Gohan and realized that her Photon beam was still building in her hand.

_Why the hell am I even thinking about this? I was just about to kill him. He has constantly been annoying for all these years, how he hadn't died is beyond me, but now, he will die!_

She steadied her arm and pinpointed a spot on his back.

_Directly through the spine, no one survives that. _

#18 again paused, she noticed that Gohan's shoulders had begun to shiver, slowly, Gohan rolled onto his back and #18 saw the tears that were falling down his cheeks. He spoke with a shaky voice while staring up into the sky "I'm….I'm s-sorry guys…. I couldn't beat them….. I… I tried my best….. I'm sorry piccolo…. I can't… I can't fight anymore….I've lost." Gohan took another shaky breath before continuing "I'm…I'm so sorry dad…. I know you expected g-great things from me, I guess… I'm just not as great as y-you thought….. I'm so sorry dad."

_Oh god _#18 rolled her eyes as Gohan spoke _is he actually apologizing? It's not like anyone up there can actually hear him, who the hell is piccolo? Was he that green guy #17 tore the head off all those years ago? I remember he had purple blood…. How strange…. maybe he was an alien. Anyhow now I'm going to kill this kid, he talks too much. _She was about to fire when she heard Gohan speak of his father.

She froze.

Her eyes widened and the photon beam faded away.

_His dad… Goku… Why...why is this affecting me this much? _

She looked down at her hand

_Why did I release my attack? What about Goku makes me… so…so angry? Why in the hell am I so bent on Goku? What the hell is going on?_

She tensed up, suddenly everything in her being wanted to tear Goku apart, but Goku wasn't here, only his son remained.

_No…_ #18 shook her head in fright _no no no! he… h-he couldn't have… why do I hate Goku so much? Gero… he couldn't have actually…no.. I hate Goku for my own reasons! That's right! I hate him because __**I **__want to hate him! But…. What…. What did Goku do to me? Why…. Why would I hate him? The only thing he did to me… was…. He… he's the son of this fool! That's it! He fathered this guy! That's why I hate him! But… then wouldn't I hate… Gohan? It's not Goku's fault that Blondie's been annoying me and my brother for so many years….. brother…. He killed my brother…. He killed my brother!_

* * *

#18 roared and screamed "You KILLED my BROTHER!" the Golden light quickly returned to her hand and was directed towards Gohan, who had shut his eyes and embraced death. The blast had hit him hard, and launched him several feet away.

But he wasn't dead.

For some reason he was still breathing, still struggling on. She hadn't meant to kill him. Gohan realized that she probably wanted revenge, he realized that she was probably going to torture him, much like how they had tortured Piccolo so many years ago. His eyes shut tight as he listened as her footsteps approached his barely recognizable body. The Crunching sound of her steps stopped as he realized that she was standing above him.

"Do it." He grimaced; his tears had long since left him. No longer was he sad or angry, he just wanted it over with. A look of surprise washed over his face as he heard a very strange crunch of gravel. He opened his eyes and looked over to see #18 sitting beside his utterly damaged body. Tears were streaming out of her eyes.

_What the hell?_

* * *

#18 saw his look of bewilderment and growled "Don't you fucking look at me." Gohan blinked a few times before turning his attention back to the sky.

#18 was so frustrated. She wanted to kill Gohan, she wanted to kill him so much, but she couldn't seem to want to kill him for the right reason.

_Why? _#18 struggled with her thoughts _Why can't I seem to hate you for killing my brother? I'm…. I'm so angry. I'm so sad. I can't get over the fact that my brother is dead. But I can't seem to…. I can't seem to want to kill you for it. The… the only reason I want to kill you…. Is…._

#18 spoke the thought aloud "The fact that you're the son of Goku."

Gohan was so confused "What?"

#18 snapped back "Shut the fuck up." Gohan obliged

#18 released a shaky, tearful sigh before standing up. She spoke slowly and clearly, not wanting to have to repeat herself "Listen and listen closely. I will kill you Gohan. That is a promise. I will seek revenge upon you for the death of my brother. You will die Gohan. And no matter what, it will be by my hand." And with that, she blasts off the ground and flew away.

_ I swear Gohan _#18 thought as she flew, tears falling down her face,_ I will kill you. But it will be for the death of my brother, for revenge and nothing else._

**_A/N:_**_Heya readers! hope you enjoyed, . Leave reviews if you want more sooner (also leave suggestions, not quite sure what I'm ganna do next)_

_special shout out to RedHunter87 for being my beta reader and helping me with this chapter (the ending was much poorer before he mentioned it.) check out his story "Stronger Than Them All " ... not ganna say anything about the tittle, but if you guys give enough complaints he may change it._


	6. The dream

Gohan's eyes snapped open. He lifted his head, taking in his surroundings.

_How has it gotten so dark?_

Gray clouds had formed in the night sky and he could tell that it would rain soon. The sky looked grim, and their appeared to be a storm brewing.

He grunted as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, he could feel something was off, and for some reason, he didn't think it was the fact that he was now wearing his orange fighting GI. He stood up, completely forgetting that his leg was supposed to be shattered and took another glance around. The area was still the sandy desert waste land, but somehow it was different. The ground felt strange underneath his feet, and as he looked around, he also noticed that the rock formations were no longer there. The world felt flat, and he couldn't shake the feeling of impending danger. From paranoia the saiyan switched into his battle stance, though even this felt strange as his lost arm seemed to reform and again aid him in his stance. And while this was far beyond the ordinary, Gohan took no notice of it, it was to no concern of his that he had suddenly changed clothes, or that his leg had miraculously recovered, or that his lost appendage had suddenly returned to him. All that continued to cross his mind was the thought of danger.

_Why am I so tense? _His thoughts seemed loud as if they were booming through speakers.

His body began to shiver as the sense of danger increased; fear filled his chest as he took a shaky breath in. The half saiyan let out a startled yelp as he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He spun around and watched as Trunks tilted his head, staring confused at his mentor.

"Are you ok?" Trunks spoke very calmly as he removed his hand from Gohan's shoulder

Gohan took a nervous breath in before saying "Y-yeah… just…just don't sneak up on me again."

Trunks spoke robotically as he grinned at Gohan "I thought you said it was impossible to sneak up on you."

Gohan released a cautious smile as he said "you got lucky, don't think it's ganna happen again." The older saiyan tried to get himself to relax, but the sense of danger was still boiling in his stomach.

Trunks's grin widened as he said "We'll see about that!"

Gohan merely chuckled and said "C'mon, let's get going." He turned his back to Trunks and prepared to fly off but froze as he heard a blood curdling tearing sound followed by a loud _thump._

The older saiyan's eyes widened as the sense of terror crept back into his chest. He slowly allowed his head to turn back to where Trunks had been standing a moment before…

And saw the younger saiyan's lifeless body collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from the stump where Trunks's neck used to connect to his head.

Gohan's eyes bulged as he stared down at his deceased friend. He fell to his knees, mouth slightly ajar, and continued to stare as the headless boy bled out.

"w-wha?...w-why?" tears began to fall from the hybrids eyes.

A menacing laugh pierced the silent air "Oh look at that! The monkey's crying! Oh isn't this just hilarious daddy?"

Gohan lifted his head and watched as King Cold chuckled and said "So this? This is a super saiyan?... I find that hard to believe"

The grieving saiyan turning his head and stared horrified as Frieza approached him with a large smile on his face "Hello little monkey, your day been good?" the tyrant came to a stop as he stared over the bloody body of Trunks "Well I guess not." He placed a finger to his chin and pretended to study Trunks's dead body, the smile was still bright on his face as he said " You know daddy? I think something is missing from that little fellow."

"Oh really?" King Cold gave an over exaggerated look of surprise "Whatever could that be?"

Gohan remained silent as they spoke, nothing could bring him out of his daze, his little brother was dead. What else could possibly matter?

"I think I know." A slightly deeper voice made itself known behind Gohan

Frieza's evil smile widened as he looked past the kneeling saiyan "Oh Cooler, you've always been good at finding things haven't you?"

Gohan turned his head so that he could see Cooler's form emerged from the darkness of the night. Cooler had the same smirk that Frieza wore as he walked towards Gohan, hiding something behind his back.

"Hello monkey. I think I've found a little something for your friend there." Cooler slowly pulled out the object behind his back, revealing it to be the bloody head of Trunks. Gohan simply stared as Cooler laughed and dropped it on the ground before roughly kicking it towards him. The head rolled several times before coming to a stop next to Gohan's knee. Gohan stared at the head of Trunks, and strangely enough, the head seemed to be staring back. Trunks's dead eyes were locked onto Gohan's.

Trunks's lips parted and Gohan gasped as he said "Why? Why did you let them do it?"

The tears falling from Gohan's eyes became waterfalls "I-I Didn't,… I didn't w-want"

Trunks speech became slurred as he spoke "Why did you let me die?"

Gohan stuttered "I-I…"

Trunks's words were slowly becoming less and less understandable "why did you let us die?"

Gohan could barely speak, he was choking on his words "I…I di-didn't w-want…..I t-tried…"

Trunks didn't answer.

"oh, so you tried?" Frieza laughed as he knelt down next to Gohan's left side "Well now your friends are all dead for your 'trying'."

Gohan didn't respond, he continued to stare at Trunks's dead head.

"hmmmmm." Frieza began to examine him "You know daddy, I still think something's wrong."

"Oh?" King Cold was visibly amused "What is that son?"

Cooler stepped up next to Gohan's other side and said "I concur, something's still wrong."

Gohan barely murmured "your all dead….. my dad killed you…."

"Yes brother, but I can't seem to figure out what it is." Frieza ignored Gohan's comment and continued to examine him.

"Well," King Cold chirped in "My memory may be foggy, but didn't he used to only have one arm?"

Frieza laughed and nodded enthusiastically "Oh how right you are father!" he placed his hand on Gohan's shoulder and poked the limp arm attached to it. "This isn't supposed to be here."

Rather than pull his arm free of Frieza, which he wanted to do so very much, Gohan turned his head and glared into Frieza's eyes as he said "You are dead, you and your brother and father. My dad made sure of that."

Frieza spat as he spoke, his smile had changed into a vicious snarl "Oh I'm dead am I?" he lifted Gohan's arm horizontally "Then how am I able to do this?"

Gohan felt the tyrant's grip tighten on his arm; he knew what was about to happen, but for some reason his body chose to do nothing to stop it. The half saiyan knew he could easily retract his arm away from Frieza and if he wanted to probably kill him with a quick punch through the stomach.

But he didn't

A horrible scream escaped Gohan's mouth as Frieza began to tear the limb away from his shoulder. Gohan was feeling a pain beyond pain, but it was as though he felt nothing at all. His body remained numb as a sense of urgency ran through his nerves to his brain, screaming at him to pull back, to take back his knew found arm.

But nothing could make him do what he didn't want, Trunks was dead, and it was now his fault. He killed his little brother, and for that he needed death upon himself.

Gohan gasped staggered breaths as he attempted to recompose himself. The tearing sound had ceased, and once again he felt the absence that he had gotten so used to over the month.

"Oh look daddy!" Frieza swung the bloody limb around his head like a helicopter, splattering the ground and Gohan with the liquid crimson "It's like a loose bat!" the tyrant lowered the arm and smashed the end of it across Gohan's face. The Saiyan fell over from the impact and laid flat on the ground as blood poured from his stump, coating the ground with the dark color red.

King Cold spoke very sharply "Son, careful with that! It's getting all over the place." He moved his hands in front of his face, trying to block the splatter.

"Oh come daddy you have to enjoy the little things!" Frieza laughed as he dropped the arm and walked over to his father, Cooler following behind him.

A small drop of blood had landed on Cold's armor, the ice-gin sighed as he attempted to wipe it off with his finger "You mother is always furious when she sees blood on my armor…"

Cooler chuckled and shook his head as he spoke "You can change on the ship father."

King Cold nodded before saying "Yes but I take no pleasure in wasting royal armor." He turned around and began to walk off "let us go, there's nothing left to do here." Cooler turned and fell in step with his father, Frieza started to follow but paused as he heard Gohan's desperate gasps for air.

"Oh I almost forgot." He turned and pointed his index finger at Gohan's bloody form "That your still alive." A small purple light began to flash around the extended finger.

"b-but..." Gohan was trying his best to get out the words as the world began to fade to black "you… you're all… dead…"

The saiyan's eyes began to close as he heard Frieza laugh and say "Fool, no one could ever kill the Cold family."

Gohan's eyes opened in a flash, his pupils were dark beads in a sea of white. The half saiyan took a few large breaths before allowing a long sigh of relief. He rested in his bed comfortably before noticing the sharp pain of his leg, followed by the slightly less painful throb of his broken ribs. He groaned as the hurt washed over him and allowed his head to sink further into his pillow.

_Well that was one horrible dream_

It was often that Gohan had nightmares; usually it was the only thing he received whenever he went to sleep due to the decade of fights all ending in him being beaten to near death. Basically, his nightmares never ran out fuel.

_Hmmm, why did I dream of Frieza?_

Gohan's nightmares of Frieza had started shortly after he had returned to Namek, and had ended little more than a year later. The last time the tyrant had even crossed his mind was nearly two year ago when Bulma made a Namek joke about how ripped their dragon was compared to the Earth's.

Gohan cringed as he shifted onto his side facing the door. He looked downward towards the small bookshelf sitting next to the foot of his bed. He scanned the filled shelves until his eyes came to rest on a smallish red book cramped between a two large black tittles.

He began to formulate a plan of how to reach the book when events of the day before rushed back into his mind. He remembered the viscous fight, the death of android #17, how beaten Trunks had looked as he crumpled into the sand…

_Is he ok!?_

He reached underneath the covers to find the phone in his pants but suddenly realized that he was no longer wearing them. He was semi freaked out until he felt the splint attached to his broken leg.

_Oh I get it,_ the young man relaxed slightly; _they had to take them off to put the splint on._

He turned his face to the wooden door and began to think

_How am I going to get over there?_

Several seconds passed before he started to get an idea of how to get the door open, it swung outward from the room, and the lock was somewhat broken, anytime he'd even lean on the thing it would open….

Gohan raised his hand and allowed a very small ball of light to build "ok… easy now…" he fired the blast and watched as it charged hard into the wood frame causing it to swing open fast, the person standing on the other end released a sharp cry as the door slammed into their face.

Gohan's eyes widened as he heard the _thump _followed by "oww…."

"Sorry!" he immediately shouted "Didn't know you were there!"

"Sheesh," Trunks stepped out from behind the door rubbing his forehead "I went all the way to the tower to get you these… and this is the thanks I get?" The boy revealed a very small brown pouch which Gohan knew carried senzu beans.

Gohan smiled at his friend "Glad to see you buddy, I thought for a second you might not have made it."

Trunks made an exaggerated face of shock "Seriously? You and I both know I'm like a mega tank when it comes to fights!"

Gohan shook his head, the smile still warmly glued to his face as he said "Trunks… Good job."

Trunks cocked his head slightly before saying "What?"

Gohan allowed a happy sigh to escape his lips "You did great out there against the androids… because of you; there's only one of those monsters out there now."

Trunks rubbed the back of his head, a habit he had picked up from Gohan "Well… I didn't do all that much… I mean, you're the one that killed him…" a modest smile spread across his face.

Gohan responded lightly "Give yourself a little credit, if you hadn't held him down, who knows if I would have hit him… And if you hadn't cut his arm… well, let's just say it's that injury that allowed me to beat him… even if you didn't exactly listen to me." Gohan grumbled the last part.

Trunks stared at him with an open mouth "Are you serious? You're mad at me?"

"I sure am. You should've ran away from the androids, not fought them." The smile on Gohan's face had vanished.

Trunks shoved his hand into his face "I can't believe this…" he looked up and glared into Gohan's eyes "I help you destroy one of those monsters, and you get mad at me?"

"You should have listened to my instructions like you said you would." Gohan was keeping his voice low but stern, the look in his eyes read serious.

Trunks copied Gohan's tone as he spoke "You said it yourself, If I hadn't… Disobeyed you, then you wouldn't have been able to kill #17."

Gohan took a small time to think of a response before saying "That's not entirely true, there's no way to tell if I wouldn't have been able to beat the androids without your help."

Trunks snapped "WITHOUT MY HELP YOU'D BE DEAD RIGHT NOW!"

Gohan stared at his younger friend with wide eyes; it wasn't often that he lost it like that.

The lavender haired boy took a breath before saying "They were going to kill you Gohan, they said it before you arrived, they were ganna ambush you and take you out…"

Gohan lowered his gaze slightly, a small smile crept up onto his face "Alright Trunks, you win."

Trunks's eyebrows scrunched up "What?"

Gohan's smile widened "You were trying to save my life, all I can be is grateful… thank you Trunks."

"Your… not mad at me anymore?" Trunks tilted his head

"Not at all, you did what you thought was right… and I have my life because of it, thanks Trunks."

"um… no problem…" there was a long pause before Trunks shouted "Oh that reminds me! Mom said she's working on an arm for you."

"Oh really?" Gohan tried to sit up but failed "oof… so you guys found Frieza's arm while I was out?"

Trunks shook his head "Nah, the arm was a bust, but the… guys who brought us in also brought in #17's corpse… so mom said she could examine his arm and make a copy for you."

Gohan groaned as he tried to adjust himself in his bed, it was becoming uncomfortable on his side.

"Not feeling too good captain?" Trunks grinned

Gohan chuckled and said "Toss me a senzu."

Trunks looked down at the pouch in his hand "Well…. I don't know…"

Gohan gave him a serious face as he said "Trunks. Give. Me. a senzu."

"ummm…" the boy looked back out into the hallway that ran perpendicular to Gohan's room, a bright smile washed over his face as something seemed to catch his eye towards the living room. "Alright here ya go Gohan!" the grinning boy pulled out one of the magical green beans and tossed it into Gohan's open hand.

Trunks happily shouted "See ya!" before dashing back out into the hallway, accidentally slamming the door in the process. Gohan stared at the bean for a long time before plopping it into his mouth and chomping down on it. He felt bad every time he had to use one, Korin had told him the process of obtaining the senzu and it was no easy task, the senzu tree would only produce the beans if the most purest of waters were used on it. Those waters were unfortunately located several miles from the old cat's tower. Since the cat could fly it didn't used to take him too long, but since the androids, it had become even more and more dangerous to even leave the tower. Gohan had offered to retrieve the sacred waters before, but the wise cat had said only he and he alone could know of the sacred pool's location, therefore only he could retrieve them.

It was always a strange feeling whenever Gohan ate a senzu, the feeling of your bones popping back into place and suddenly mending in seconds can be very unnerving, the sudden burst of energy shot through your chest as if it were saying _'get your ass moving!'_

Gohan stood from his bed and took several seconds to stretch, the feeling made him groan slightly; to him it felt like centuries had gone by in the day that he'd been out. He carefully removed the splint and set it aside before he walked over to his dingy dresser. Even though Bulma had protested, Gohan had decided to keep his old dresser, along with several other things from when he was a boy. The desk he had was still the same, even if it were a decade out of date, the book shelf from his younger years was starting to fall apart, but whenever one of the shelves would collapse, Gohan would always repair it instead of replace it. The long mirror he had placed next to his desk was a gift from his mother

Before she had passed.

The doctors said that she died from natural causes, but Gohan knew that was a lie. She had died from heart break, from the death of her son. Of course Gohan never really died, but his future did. After the sad death of Goku, Chichi barely had enough time grieve before the androids poked their nasty heads out of hell. Once the Z-fighters were killed, it fell on Gohan to defend the world, completely destroying any future he would have had. This is what killed Gohan, and then slowly Chichi. Once Gohan had started venturing off to defeat the androids, and always returned beaten to near death, something began to slip away from the two.

Hope

Chichi began to realize that she and her son would never have a peaceful life, that a new monster would always take the place of the last. This thought ate her alive; Knowing that there was no point in saving the Earth again simply because it would always be shoved back into danger, to know that her darling Gohan, a protégé, a little boy genius, would always be fighting for his life instead of fulfilling his dreams? What type of future is that?

Gohan had lost his hope in a slightly different manner. He had seen Chichi's point of view far before she had, and knew that he would no longer have the future he would have enjoyed. Gohan merely accepted the fact and moved on. What truly scared him was the snowball effect that had occurred so far, a year before he had noticed that every threat to earth had been greater than the last (and a threat always came), meaning there was a threat coming that was even more powerful than the androids, and **that** terrified him. How would he defeat something that trumped the androids? What could he possibly do to save the Earth once a power like that came? He wouldn't; he'd become useless and the Earth would be destroyed… all because he was too weak…

_Stop. _Gohan shook his head and his thoughts began to dissipate _you are not too weak. You killed #17 in the last battle, and soon you will do the same to #18. You __**will**__ be strong enough to protect the Earth when the time comes; you've protected it this long._

Another voice entered his brain as he consoled himself _you've done a pretty crappy job…_

Gohan sighed as the thought popped into his head, because he hadn't done a great job; most of the human race had been killed, and all but a few cities had been destroyed. A world that once flourished with life and happiness now cowered in fear underneath the few metaphorical rocks that were left.

"Father would have done a better job…" He didn't quite understand why, but Gohan felt that if Goku hadn't been killed by the virus, somehow everything would be ok right now. He knew that Goku's power paled in comparison to the androids, but if Goku had lived… would things be better?

Gohan's thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door followed by "What are you doing in there? Are you coming out anytime soon?" Gohan could hear the annoyance in Bulma's voice.

He merely chuckled and said "I'll be out in a sec," he listened as her light footsteps echoed down the hall bouncing off the marble flooring. He turned back to his dresser and pulled out a black tank top and some gray sweat pants. He had very little trouble getting changed before walking over to the door where he paused, sensing something.

_Why do I sense so many…?_ Beyond the door and down the hallway he could feel an army of Ki signatures, all very low, around the average human, but Gohan knew not to judge based on power alone. They seemed to be grouped up in the living room, and based on how quiet it was, they were hiding. Gohan's eyes widened as he realized that he felt Bulma's and Trunks's Ki in that mass, terror filled his body as he began to remember the dream.

_NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO!_

Gohan swung the door open fast and rushed out. He immediately took notice of the fact that all the lights were off, making the hallway pitch black. He moved to the switch in an instant and flicked it on and off with no response.

_They cut the power!_

He charged a bright yellow Ki blast in his hand, the ball of energy gave the effect of a torch with just barely enough light to see a few feet ahead. He began to sprint towards the living room, taking only seconds to close the distance and released a startled "Gaah!" as the lights flickered on.

The entire room filled with people shouted with excitement "SURPRISE!"

Gohan merely stood there with his mouth slightly ajar as he took in his surroundings. The walls were littered with cheery decorations, multi colored balloons stuck to the ceiling as upbeat music began to play. Gohan looked over the huge amount of people filling the tiny space and realized that each and every one of them was smiling at him.

Bulma emerged from the crowd and patted him on the back "So, what do you think?"

Gohan stared at her, a dumb look across his face as he murmured "why….. wuh?"

Trunks floated out above the crowd and shouted with a smile "You didn't think we'd forget your birthday did you!?"

_My… birthday?_

**_AU:_**

_Shout out to RedHunter87 who has changed his story to "For want of nail"... check it out!_

_I've decided to start answering reviews... so... yeah! leave a review or question and I'll answer it! =]_

_Young IV: Thanks! I'll try to keep it a good story!_

_treeger: I already answered this via pm... but still, thanks for the correction! _

_EgyLynx: You shall not question me with a question I do not understand! =]_

_dirtydan52: Don't worry! I'm definitely going to finish this story! _

_Guest: hmmm... interesting ending if I were making a fanfic of Gohan and #18, but this is the legend of future Gohan, so no can do! (still enjoyed the input though!)_

_and as always leave a review and tell me what you think! =) hope your looking forward to next chapter!_


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